VI. FAMILY MATERIAL

1. GENEALOGIES

Father's Family

Father's father was Alexander Stewart, and his mother, Esther Stratton Wilson.

Wilson Family

I can find no details regarding the Wilson family other than that it came from Bedford, England, and that Great-grandfather Wilson had a farm somewhere between Simcoe and Vittoria, Ontario. Walter Grundy, Clerk of the Vittoria Baptist Church, says that the minutes of the Vittoria Baptist Church, previous to 1897, were destroyed by fire. And L. B. Wallace, Deputy Registrar-General of Ontario, says that the Ontario records commence with July 1, 1869, and therefore he has no record of Grandfather's marriage. He says, "the only possible source of such records is from the Church in which the event took place", and these were the records that were burned! At the time of Grandfather's marriage, Wilson was a prominent name both in the Vittoria church and in Simcoe.

Stewart Family

The old Mortlach register brings to light some facts which I piece together with what we know, as follows;

My reasons for suggesting this genealogy are as follows:

We know that Grandfather was born in Mortlach Parish in the year 1813, that his father was William Stewart, a farmer at one time fairly well off, and that Grandfather was a staunch Presbyterian previous to his marriage to Esther Stratton Wilson.

At my request the SCOTS ANCESTRY RESEARCH SOCIETY of Edinburgh attempted to find information regarding Grandfather. Part of their report is as foIlows:

"Prior to 1855, registrations of births and marriages in Scotland were voluntarily recorded in the old parochial registers (unindexed) of each parish. The old parochial registers of Mortlach were accordingly searched from 1808 -1818 for the birth of Alexander Stewart, believed to have been born in 1813, the son of William Stewart, but his name was not found to have been recorded there. The two following William Stewarts were, however, found to have been recording children in the old parochial registers of Mortlach during this period:

"It is possible that Alexander Stewart was a member of one of these families, and that his parents had failed to record his birth, etc."

We can dismiss from consideration the William Stewart and Margaret McDonald family as the couple was not married till after Grandfather's birth. But the other William Stewart had a son born in 1813, the year of Grandfather's birth. This son was registered as William. This offers several possibilities; for one, the Registrar may have made a mistake in registering and put down the name as William instead of Alexander, as there were so many Williams around as to make it confusing. - Grandfather's older half-brother was William, too. Or, the name given may have been William Alexander, and only the first name was registered. As the father, William, who was born in 1782, had a younger brother, Alexander, born in 1786, there was good reason to call his son after his brother, Alexander. Now Grandfather, having a father, William, and a half-brother, William, might easily have drooped his William and have gone by the name, Alexander. But when he came to name his son he revived both names and called him, Joseph William Alexander. More than this, as a staunch Presbyterian, Great-grandfather William was not too likely to neglect registering his children in the parish Register. So, this being the only Stewart, son of William, registered in the year 1813, I conclude that he was our Grandfather.

Registering from Nethercluny fits in with what we know about Grandfather's background. The RESEARCH SOCIETY report says, "We have now consulted County Directories with regard to both Nethercluny and Newtack, but find no mention of them. They would therefore appear to have been crofts or small farms, now absorbed into larger properties". Father's notes say, "Father (Grandfather's father) pretty well off at one time: farmer; etc." My friend, Marjory Henry,[2] sends pictures of Nethercluny, and says, "The road to Dufftown goes east and north, and Ben Rinnis is west of the town rind north of Nethercluny. -- I do know that Stewarts have lived in Nethercluny for generations". Father speaks of Grandfather growing up in Dufftown. The Nethercluny croft is close to the present Dufftown. Dufftown was not established till four years after Grandfather was born. It bears the name of its founder, James Duff, 4th Earl of Fife. Mortlach Parish is ancient.

The William Stewart whom I assume to have been Grandfather's father was the son of James Stewart and Elizabeth Sutor (or Eliza), and he had seven younger brothers. His marriage record says, "Contracted October 30, 1779, James Stuart in this parish and Eliza Sutor in the parish of Aberlour." I cannot be positive concerning the names of James Stuart's parents. There are other possibilities. (Note the shift in the spelling of the name.)

Mother's Family.

Mother's father was Thomas McGinn, her mother was Abastenia Philbin.

McGinn Family:

James McGinn, b. Sligo County, Ireland, c.1775 . d. Montréal, Aug. 20, 1852. m. Mary King, b. Sligo County, d. Sligo, Jan.11, 1831

Children: Mary, Anne, Elizabeth, James, *Thomas, William, John, William (Second)

Thomas McGinn, b. Sligo, July 29, 1808, d. Montréal, 1873. m. Abastenia Philbin, b. Tipperary., Ireland, or (probably) Montréal, 1815, d. Montréal, May 24, 1893. They were married August 10, 1837, by the Rev. Henry Esson of St. Gabriel Street Church, at the home of R. Philbin (father or brother?), St. Anne Street, Montréal.

Children: Thomas King, Susan 1st, Susan 2d, Jane, *Mary Anne, Abastenia, Richard James, Sophia, John Albert, Elizabeth, Clarinda, William, Eva

Mary Anne (or Ann) b. May 20, 1845, d. May 24, 1914 at Rochester, N.Y., m. J. W. A. Stewart (family genealogy following) "On July 13, 1875, while still an undergraduate, I was married in Montréal to Mary St. Leger McGinn." Note the use of the name St. Leger in place of Anne. Many of the family used St. Leger as a middle name, e.g. Richard James signed his name R. St. L. McGinn.

Philbin Family:

Richard Philbin of 'Dome Philbin' near Dublin, m. Elizabeth (or Abastenia) St. Leger shortly before 1815, and migrated, about 1815, to Montréal

Children: Abastenia b.1815 (m. Thomas McGinn), Jane, Maggie, Sophie and maybe others.

King Family

Mary King: I have no record of her family, other than that she married Great-grandfather James McGinn, and that she was born and died in Sligo County, Ireland, before the members of the family migrated to Montréal.

The L'Estrange Connection

Frank McGinn names two aristocratic families with which Grandmother McGinn was connected - the St. Legers and the L'Estranges. And Laurie Sproule calls attention to the fact that Grandmother McGinn said we should be very proud of the two names, St. Leger and L'Estrange, and should use them, for we had every right to them. Both names have been largely used in the family. There are also at least two other names in the Irish connections of Grandmother's family - Vaughn and Vicars. From the latter Vicars Turnbull, our cousin, received his name.[3]

Mother told us that there was Huguenot blood in her family, and also that there was someone among her ancestors who came from Holland.

This material is too vague for any exact conclusions, but I offer what follows as suggestion. It is quite clear that the St.Legers came to Ireland long before the Huguenots were driven out of France. So we must look elsewhere for Huguenot blood. Maybe the L'Estranges had something to do with it.

About 1949 the Toronto Star carried an article on the sale of English castles and estates. In it was this statement, "Even castles with a long tradition are, as a last resort, being forced on the market. Hunstanton Hall, Norfolk, occupied by the L'Estranges for 1,000 years, is one of them." Maybe the first member of the family to live in England came with William the Conqueror. As early as 1112 the name of Roland LeStrange is recorded 'as a witness'. John LeStrange, the third in descent from him, was lord marcher of the Welch Marches and held extensive estates in Shropshire and Norfolk. He died in 1269. His grandson, John, gave the Hunstanton estate to his younger brother, Hamon, from whom the Norfolk L'Estranges come in direct descent. Sir Thomas L'Estrange, b.1494, was Esquire of the Body of Henry VIII, and one of his younger sons, Richard - there were sixteen children - settled in Ireland, and was ancestor of the L'Estranges of Moystown, King's County, and the L'Estranges of Keoltown, County Westmeath. Now as the names St. Leger and L'Estrange both appear in mother's family connection, and as both the St. Legers and L'Estranges were in the service of Henry VIII, and as representatives of both families settled in Ireland at about the same time, there is a presumption that these were the ancestors of Grandmother McGinn, whose mother was a St. Leger

The Vaughns, the L'Estranges, and the LaTouche families were all related by marriage in Ireland. David Digues de LaTouche was a Huguenot. He was the fourth son of a noble Protestant family which possessed considerable estates between Blois and Orleans, and in other parts of France. When the Huguenots were persecuted, David first fled to Holland, and shortly after, embarking with the Prince of orange, he served in the Irish campaign under him, and then settled in Dublin. His son, David LaTouche, was first governor of the Bank of Ireland when it was established in 1783. Is it not possible, then, that Grandmother McGinn's father, who was a Philbin from Dom Philbin in Dublin, through some connection in descent, brought into the family the L'Estrange relationship, the Huguenot blood, and the association of one of our ancestors with Holland?

St.Leger Family

Grounds for the presumed connection between Elizabeth (or Abastenia) St. Leger, our great-grandmother and Elizabeth St. Leger (of Masonic fame) of Doneraile and the Doneraile St.Legers: -

Frank McGinn, son of Thomas King McGinn., "The McGinn girls were proud of a remote connection on their mother's side of the family with two aristocratic families, St. Leger and L'Estrange, and several of the family adopted the names in addition to those bestowed by their parents."

Laurie Sproule, daughter of Sophia McGinn Head, "Great-grandmother was either Elizabeth St. Leger or Abastenia, we are not sure which, and definitely came from the Doneraile family. -- Our grandmother said we should be very proud of those two names (St. Leger and L'Estrange) and should use them for we had every right to them. Our great-grandmother (Elizabeth St. Leger) married a Philbin. He was the son of a brewer, and was not welcomed into the family, so they were packed off to America." Aunt Sophie used to tell her children the story about an ancestor,, Elizabeth St. Leger, who was the only woman who was ever made a Mason. This is the Elizabeth St. Leger of Doneraile, who was married to Richard Aldworth in the early 1700's. Again, Laurie says, "Our grandmother said her mother told them little of her home, saying that it would only make them discontented and nothing would ever come of it."

Aunt May McGinn, Uncle Dick McGinn's wife, "Yes, Dick told me an ancestor of his was the Elizabeth St. Leger of Masonic fame. He said when he joined the Prince Rupert Lodge, there was her picture on the wall."

Burke's Baronatage throws no light on the matter. The line would have to be traced through St. Leger Aldworth, since he, on becoming Viscount Doneraile, took St. Leger as his surname. Certain of his children are mentioned together with 'other issue' unnamed. It may be that our Elizabeth (or Abastenia) was not named because she was more or less disowned on account of her marriage to Richard Philbin.

The family tradition, the name St. Leger - not an Irish name, but a name brought to Ireland by Sir Anthony St. Leger - the proximity of Tipperary, from which great-grandmother and her husband emigrated to Canada, and Doneraile (they are only about thirty miles apart) all seem to confirm the connection, which we may assume unless it is disproved.

The Matthews Family

Gwaethfoed Vaws - married - Morfyed, daughter of Ivnr, King of Gwent
Prince of Cardigan
About 1000 A.D.
'
'
Aydan
Gwylym
Sitsylt
Gevan
Meryic
Gevan
Caradoc
Meryic
Madoc
'
Gruffydd - married - Crisley, daughter of Sir Jevan ap Meiric
'
Ivan - married - Cecil, daughter of Watkin Llewllyn
'

   Children: Christopher William Robert James George - Mary, daughter of
David Roberts

THE FAMILY OF GEORGE MATTHEWS and his wife ANN SMITHSON - Lindsay, Ontario

Frances Lucy b.21-8-60

William Ezra b. 9 10-62. (Commander of the British Empire, 1935)

Sarah Elizabeth b. 24-10-64

George Sands b.16-2-67

Thomas Francis b.20-7-69

Robert Charles b.14-6-71 (Member, the King's Privy Council for Canada) 1933

Albert Edward b 17-5-73 (Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, 1937)

Annie Isabella b. 11-3-76

Alfred Joseph b. 15-8-78

Alice Maud Mary b. 30-12-83

2. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

1. Grandfather Thomas McGinn 1808 - 1873.

Thomas McGinn was the fifth child and the second son of James McGinn and Mary King. He was born on July 28, 1808 in Sligo County, Ireland, and died in Montréal, Québec, in July 1873.

In Ireland he learned the carpenter's trade. Evidently he moved from Sligo County to Templemore, Tipperary County, for it was from there unit in 1831 he moved to Montréal, Québec. Arrived in Montréal, he did well at his trade, and was able soon to purchase a farm at Laprairie, where he had horses, of which he was very fond. His mother had died shortly before he migrated to Canada, but his father and some other members of the family came out and lived at the farm. His father took a great fancy to one of the horses and used to feed it from his hand. This horse, in a playful mood, Kicked up and struck Mr. McGinn and killed him.

When the Mackenzie-Papineau rebellion broke out, Grandfather McGinn raised the first company of volunteers and led them to St. Eustache. On September 7, 1838, he offered his services to Charles Buller, chief secretary to the Earl of Durham, who at that time was in charge of Canadian affairs under England's Prime Minister, Lord Melbourn. He thereupon received a commission as Captain from Charles Colborne. It many be that his military interest was based in the fact that his father, James McGinn, had fought in the battle of Vinegar Hill, Enniscorthy, Ireland, in 1798.

After the rebellion Grandfather's company presented him with a beautiful tea urn inscribed with his name and names of members of his company, which was The Montréal Loyal Volunteers, 3d Battalion.

The Rebellion experience lead to work for toe government, and, among other things, Grandfather built the blockhouse at Beauharnois. Then, in 1843, when the position became open, he became Keeper of the Montréal Gaol, a position he held for twenty-one years. Later, in 1865-66, he was city Assessor, living at 5 Inkerman Terrace. The Gaol was on St.Mary Street.

Grandfather married Abastenia Philbin. The marriage license is hated August 9, 1837, and the marriage took place on August 10, at the home of R. Philbin, St. Anne Street. The Rev. Henry Esson of St.Gabriel Street Church performed the ceremony. Thirteen children were born of this marriage -nine of them were born in gaol! Of these, the fifth child, and the first one born at the gaol was Mary Ann (or Anne), who married J. W. A. Stewart - our Mother.

Grandfather had a summer home on Lake Memphremagog, across from the Owl's Head. This place was a great delight to our mother. He was a very intellectual man. He was interested in astronomy and possessed d telescope. Friends often came to consult with him and to discuss important affairs. Among them were D'Arcy McGee and one of the Molsons of brewing and banking fame.

Mother returned to Montréal from Woodstock wqhere she had been teaching in 1873, doubtless in time to be with Grandmother at the time of Grandfather's death in July.

2. Grandmother Abastenia Philbin McGinn 1815 - May 24, 1893.

Abastenia Philbin, daughter of Richard Philbin and Elizabeth (or Abastenia) St. Leger, was born in Tipperary, Ireland, according to Frank McGinn who has the record of family statistics from the old McGinn family bible. Cousin Frank is doubtless correct, tho' I had understood that she was born in Montréal after the arrival of her parents from Ireland.

She married Thomas McGinn, and was the mother of thirteen children. She survived her husband by twenty years. She was deeply interested in her children, and visited mother both in St. Catherines and in Rochester, and maybe in Hamilton. I think mother visited her in Montréal, going from Rochester.

3. Grandfather Alexander Stewart 1812 - 1904.

Alexander, son of William Stewart, small farmer, was born in Mortlach Parish, Banffshire, Scotland, November 19, 1813 (Assuming that I have found the correct registration). On the same assumption, the name of the farm, or croft, was Nethercluny, and a picture of it is attached.

Securing a history of North America from the library and reading it, he became interested in migrating, and in March 1832 he set sail on the Brig Annandale for Québec, arriving on May 22, 1832, less than a year after Grandfather McGinn arrived in Canada.

He secured employment first in Québec, then in Montréal, and later, having moved over near Fergus, Ontario, he secured some land. This was the area where some half-brothers and half-sisters had settled with their families. Grandfather, however, did not stay on the land. He moved on to Port Dover and then Simcoe, where he secured good work.

While living at Simcoe, he met, and on January 12, 1842 he married Esther Stratton Wilson.

Grandfather, having been a Presbyterian, became a Baptist, being baptized in the summer of 1845 at Fredericksburg (now Delhi) by the Rev.D. W. Rowland. He was ordained to the ministry in a room of a cloth factory known as Watson's fills, in Waterloo, January 29, 1851. From then on he was a very active home missionary.

In 1853 Grandfather moved his family to Durham. He did not live there continuously, but it became his eventual home. He founded the Baptist Church in Durham, among others, and there is a window in the church containing his picture as a memorial.

After grandfather had retired (if he ever did) he went to Dwight, Lake of Bays, voluntarily, to do home mission and pastoral work. This continued through a number of long spring to autumn seasons in the 1880's, and eventuated in the founding of the Dwight Baptist Church, which became the source of all our family interest in Dwight.

Grandfather died in February 1904, and is buried in the cemetery at Durham, not far from the entering sate.

4. Grandmother Esther Stratton Wilson Stewart

The Wilson family came to Canada from Bedford, England, and settled on a farm between Simcoe and Vittoria. Father was a member of ths family. There were other children in the family, three sisters and one brother. Great grandfather was William Wilson. Father was born in Bedford, and was ten years old when the family came to Canada and settled about four miles west of Simcoe.

In his notes, "Thoughts and Reflections at Eighty", father wrote, "My mother died in January, 1866, at the age of 45. I was just fourteen years old." Hence, Grandmother must have migrated to Canada in 1821, or about then. She had five daughters and one son. Few facts remain in memory concerning Grandmother's life, but always the impression abides that she was a woman undefeated by circumstance and a great encouragement and help to Grandfather in ins work. To her children she left the memory of a sturdy and beautiful Christian character..

5. Father, Joseph William Alexander Stewart 1852 - 1947.

Joseph Stewart was the fourth child of Alexander and Esther Stewart, having three older and two younger sisters. He was born in Waterloo, Ontario, January 17, 1852.

The family moved to Durham the next year. Later (1867) the family moved to Teeswater, but after a time returned to Durham.

Father had public school education in Durham. Also, he was tutored by the Rev. Dr. Park, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, and graduate of one of the Scotch universities. January 2, 1870 he entered the Canadian Literary Institute at Woodstock (later called Woodstock College) intending to study for the ministry. Being persuaded by Dr. Fife, the head of the Institute, to attend University, he entered Toronto University in the autumn of 1872, and received his B.A. degree in 1876. Entering on the active ministry, he continued his studies in theology at Woodstock and graduated in that field in 1879.

At the age of thirteen Father began to act as clerk in a Durham store. Grandfather hoped he would continue along this line, and bought him a little business and built a store, but this was not Father's line, and he sold out soon and went to Owen Sound, and, taking the examinations, secured a second class certificate for teaching. On January second, 1867, before he eras quite fifteen years old, he began teaching school at Bentinck, five miles from Durham. Later he took a school at a place near Teeswater, and taught through the year 1869, when he went to Woodstock.

Father had churches successively at Beemsville, St. Catherines, Hamilton, in Ontario, and at Rochester, New York. While at James Street, Hamilton, he was for four rears Secretary of the Foreign Mission Society of Ontario and Québec. In addition to this, he went two days a week to Toronto and taught Homiletics at Toronto Baptist College for the 1885-1886 session. For a while he was also examiner in Philosophy at University of Toronto.[6] During his Rochester pastorate at the First Baptist Church he was very actively interested in the Baptist City Mission Society, and in the Rochester Theological Seminary, at one time raising one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to match a similar amount given by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in a drive for three hundred thousand dollars.

In May 1903 Father was elected to the chair of Christian Ethics and Pastoral Theology in the Rochester Theological Seminary, and to the position of Dean. Leaving the First Baptist Church, he began his work at the Seminary in September 1903, and continued in the position till May 1923. During this time he was University preacher on various occasions at Cornell, Vassar Wellesley, Chicago, and Toronto, and spoke or lectured at numerous Baptist colleges, making an extended trip to Oregon at one time to lecture and preach. After his retirement he taught for the academic year 1923-1924 at Brandon College in Manitoba, and then became the interim supply minister in the Second Reformed Church, Rochester, for a period of five years. During this time he went during the week for a period of three months in 1926 and lectured on Homiletics at Auburn Theological Seminary.

In the summer of 1887 Father went to Dwight to help Grandfather in the dedication of the beloved church there. The next year he became summer supply, and for fifty summers he carried practically the entire responsibility for the services and the care of the property.

On July 13, 1875 Father married Mary Ann (St. Leger) McGinn in Montréal. Seven children were born of this marriage. Mother died on May 24, 1914. On February 16, 1916, he married Ruth Quimby, who died Tuesday, March 9, 1937.

Father died June 26, 1947, and is buried in the family lot at Dwight. His ashes lie in front of those of Mother and of Mother Ruth.

6. Mother, Mary Ann (St. Leger) McGinn Stewart 1845 - 1914

Mary Ann McGinn was the fifth child and the fourth daughter of Thomas and Abastenia McGinn. She was born in the Montréal Gaol, St. Mary Street, where her father was gaoler, May 20, 1845.[7]

When she was growing up she spent her summers at a farm owned by her father at Lake Memphremagog, not far from the Owl's Head.

I do not know about her early schooling. Cousin Frank McGinn says of the McGinn sisters, "The girls attended school at Guelph Baptist Academy", but I never heard of such a school, nor of Mother's having attended it. We know that she attended McGill Normal School and had lectures from Dr. Dawson, Principal of McGill University. Arrangements were made for the Normal School students to attend Sir William Dawson's lectures in Natural Science at the solicitation of Hannah Willard Lyman, a distinguished teacher and head of the school. In 1861 mother took the medal established as an award in the Normal School by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, to commemorate his visit to Canada.

After her schooling, Mother taught, first in Montréal, and quite possibly in Mrs. Tait's School. At least she often mentioned this school, and I do not think she was there as a pupil. Then from 1863 to 1873 she taught at The Canadian Literary Institute in Woodstock, where father was among her students. The Canadian Baptist Register reports that in 1868 Miss Mary Ann McGinn was the teacher of French and Drawing, and that for the years 1869-1873 she was teacher of French and English.

Mother was baptized by the Rev. John Alexander in the First Baptist Church, Montréal, Murch 10, 1867. Her family had been, I believe, Anglican. On February 9, 1875, she, with several others, was dismissed to form the Olivet Baptist Church. She was granted a letter of transfer to the Beechville Baptist Church, August 4, 1876.

On July 13, 1875, at 21 Lorne avenue, the home of her mother - her father having died a year or so earlier - she was married to Joseph William Alexander Stewart, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. John Gordon, assisted by Rev. J. P. McEwan and Rev. George Grafftey.

From this time on the events of mother's life coincide with those of father's. She was an exceptional Sunday School teacher both in Hamilton and in Rochester. She wrote poetry and articles for publication. She was a leading officer for a number of years in Y.W.C.A. work in Rochester, and a member of various women's clubs. She was the mother of seven children, all of whom lived to be over seventy. She named Alderside at Dwight and made it the deeply loved center of our family life.in summer.

On Sunday morning, May 24, 1914, mother passed away, and her ashes lie buried in the family lot in the little graveyard back of the Stewart Memorial Church, Dwight.

7. George Matthews, Father of Mrs. Harold and Mrs. Arthur Stewart. 1834 - 1916.

George Matthews was born in Birmingham, England in the year 1834, being the son of Ezra Matthews. The family line is traced back to Gwaithfoed Vaws,  Prince of Cardigan, who married Morfydd, daughter of Invr, King of Gwent.[8] Sometime, probably about 1500 A.D. a move was made from Wales to Warwickshire, where one of the family was sheriff of Coventry. Then in 1789 Thomas Matthews moved on to Birmingham from Mercot Hall, Berkswell, which had long been the family home, near Coventry. His son was Ezra, father of George.

At the age of seventeen George set out on his own to go to Canada, where first he lived with an uncle, Robert Ryley, who had a small private school at Port Hope. Then, later, he went to live on a farm with another uncle, George Ryley, in North Monaghan. While here he met a widow, Mrs. William Smithson, who had a very large farm and six daughters and needed help. He went to work for her. Returning to England after a while he came back to Canada in company with a friend, Sam Ward. Sam did not stay long, but George stayed on and in 1859 he married Ann, the third daughter of Mrs. William Smithson. Soon the young couple moved to Lindsay, then a village of about four hundred.

For a time George Matthews was employed by Mr. C. C. Baker in a packing business in which he was made manager. This business failed, and so he started a small packing business of his own, which in time became The George Matthews Company, Limited with plants in Peterborough, Brantford, Hull, and elsewhere. Finally the business, through several mergers, became part of Canada Packers Limited, in which Frank Matthews, son of George, was vice president for years.

Near the time of his marriage George Matthews was baptized by Rev. William Baird and joined the Baptist Church in Baillieboro from which his membership was moved to the Cambridge Street Baptist Church in Lindsay, of which he was a devoted supporter to the end of his days. In the larger affairs of the denomination he was closely associated with: the work of Home Missions, and was interested in the educational work being done by Ontario Baptists.

In 1874 Mr. Matthews built Holly Lodge, the beautiful home on the south side of Lindsay surrounded by ample and attractive grounds and gardens. As a father of ten children he needed space, and here he had it. Here also he made the start in his own packing business in 1875. This quickly grew away from the house, and in 1894 the Lindsay plant was closed.

Business and love of the sea took Mr. Matthews to England again and again. On one trip he discovered his old friend, Sam Ward, again prospering in the same line as himself. The friendship was renewed, and eventually Sam's daughter, Fanny, was married to George's oldest son, Will.

There were six sons and four daughters in the family. Will, in 1933, was made Commander of the British Empire for his work on the Federal District Commission in beautifying Ottawa. Charles, the same year, was made Member of the King's Privy Council for Canada, he being a member of the Bennett Cabinet. Albert was Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1937 to 1945. Joe died in the First World jar in action on February 26, 1916. Frank and George were prominent in business.

Toward the end Mr. Matthews wisely turned the business over to his sons, trough he remained keenly interested in it to the end. The death of his youngest son, Joe, at war was very hard on him, and five months later, on July 14, 1916, George Matthews, after a long and fine life, passed away.

9. Ann Smithson Matthews (Mrs. George)       - 1920.

Ann Smithson was the daughter of Sarah Mason and William Smithson. William Smithson, her father, came to Canada with his father and took up land in the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham, which is listed in a Gazetteer of that time thus, "Smithson, Wm. C. (or possibly P.) Con.4, Lot 8". There are other Smithson holdings listed near at hand. On his large holding, a thousand acres or more, William built a substantial stone house which stands still at South Monaghan, having been occupied until recently, at least, by members of the family.

Members of the Smithson family have always claimed connection with James Smithson who gave the funds for the founding of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Doubtless this connection is correct, and if so, it carries the family relationship back to Percy, the Hotspur, and to a great many other distinguished Englishmen.

William and :us wife, Sarah, had six children - all daughters - of whom Ann was the third. For their education, the girls all attended a small private school taught by the Rev. William Baird. Home life was by no means the crude experience so often associated with pioneering. It was more in keeping with that of the greater establishments, such as the Bee Hive Farm on Sturgeon Lake. William Smithson was a well-educated man. He rode about his broad acres on a horse, telling his help what to do. Indoors, visitors, many of them newcomers from England -- were welcomed and helped with their problems of settlement. Indians were at home in the South Monaghan home, and Mr. Smithson read and explained the news to them from the papers to which he subscribed, and sometimes helped them to learn to read. Years afterwards, when Mr. Matthews returned home from a trip, he found an Indian a sleep in the little kitchen of his first Lindsay house. It seemed to him utterly dangerous for his new wife to have such a character about, but Ann explained to him that she was not at dl frightened, that she was accustomed to having Indians about as they were always welcome at the Smithson home.

In 1859 Ann married George Matthews, who had been her widowed mother's farm manager. She and George went to Lindsay to live, and there she raised her fine family of ten children, and helped her husband establish his business, and carried forward the hospitable traditions of her old home, and was good and sweet and charitable to all who came within her sphere.

Ann Smithson Matthews was beautiful to the end, the idol of her sons, the example for her daughters, the gentle friend of all who knew her. She passed away May 20, 1920.

THE DOMESTICALLY INVOLVED

Alice made the fine suggestion that in such records as these the names of some of those who have been 'domestically involved' in our family life should at least be recorded. While this list covers more than our Muskoka life, those named are all remembered happily by some of the Dwight family group, and served either our parents, our brothers and sisters, or ourselves.

Let us start close home. The suggestion arose from the fact that Olive Peters was leaving service with Alice and Arthur after more than thirty years, in which time she became 'firmly embedded' in the Arthur Stewart family life. David could scarcely remember a time when Olive had not been around. For years she was just as closely associated with the cottage as with the city home. When she quit going to the cottage it was because Dwight summers were too cold for her, so she went on her own vacation to a place not very many miles from Dwight, which doubtless must have been much warmer! Olive became a tradition with many of us, and we owe much to her. [Sentence crossed out in original – JSA: Maybe in the long run she approached the position of general manager rather than domestic] Her final quitting was on doctor's orders.

Amy Burns must be placed alongside Olive. For one thing, they became good friends at Dwight, where Amy was with the Harold Stewarts for at least twenty summers. More about Amy is recorded under 'Dwight Lore', but here it must be said that she spent one year with us in Oak Park, and that later she became the cook and maid in the Albert Matthews family, where she rendered great service. But each summer she returned to us, saying in explanation of the move that in summer she 'belonged' to Its. Harold Stewart.

Members of the Matthews family will never forget Mr. and Mrs. Jim Chambers who lived in. a little cottage back of Holly Lodge. Jim drove for Mr. Matthews and did the gardening and looked after the place generally. Mrs. Chambers was a very nice person and was extra help in the house when she was needed. Isabel and Alice loved to go to the Chambers cottage and enjoy the good things and the kind care they received there. Then there was 'Teeny' Britton, an excellent cook, whose 'baker Bean made wonderful taffy'.

Towards the end of the senior Matthews' lives, Esther Grabutt came into the picture. She was an Englishwoman, a devout Methodist. She came as practical nurse and housekeeper, and was a 'good companion' to Mr. and Mrs. Matthews for eight years, staying on to care for Mrs. Matthews after Mr. Matthews' decease. In 1920 she returned to England and married E. J. Boyes, and lived in Dishforth Thirsk and Pickering, Yorkshire. Arthur and Alice visited her when on a trip in 1924) and again in 1952.

The Stewarts who can remember back far enough will recall Jessie and Priscilla, who were with us soon after Hugh's arrival on the scene. Jessie Scott was the cook, and Priscilla Eaton was the house-maid and nurse. She was a great help to Mother with us children, and we all loved her. She was very kind and very competent. She came :from England where she had evidently been well trained. Then there was Cassie Roach, a negress who had had some small degree of education, sufficient so that when mother suggested that she arrange the dishes by kinds – 'all the plates together, and all the cups together' before she washed them, she replied, "All right, Mrs. Stewd, I reduces them all to a common denominator and then I washes them.'

Now, for the Harold Stewarts, word must be aided concerning Mrs. Frank Herriman, who in the last decade, as we have grown older, has taken over more and more of the responsibility of our home. Mary is a wonderful person who sees in advance what needs to be none and does it, and thinks of a thousand things no one would ask of a housekeeper and graciously does them. When we go to Dwight she goes along and acts as chauffeur. She has even solved the shopping problem by selecting dresses for Isabel and bringing them to the house to be tried on and chosen. I am afraid we grow more dependent on her all the time.

Well, there were others: Will Matthews had 'old Eliza' as a cook; Frank had Martha; Charles had Cora as a practical nurse and housemaid; and Isabel and Harold had Hazel Richardson, who came to them at her uncle's solicitation because she was a poor, dependent sort of child, and became a competent cook and a good maid, and a companion for our children whose mentality at that time was about on a level with hers. Harold, Jr. said, "I wish Hazel could read about the Three Bears" - and that indicates a close companionship

Notable among those 'domestically involved' in the Matthews family were the chauffeurs. They were notable for the very long periods of their service, and also because they doubled in other capacities, and sometimes their wives came into the realm of house service. Willhad Blanford who was chauffeur, valet, general helper to all the family, and, if I mistake not, his term of service ended only in April 1960 when his old mistress, Fanny Matthews, died at the age of ninety-four. There was, I recall, some kind of agreement with Will that he would serve Fanny and look after her as long as she lived. Then Frank had Schoen, who was chauffeur long after Frank died, and who sent Alice a Christmas card when Ella was too sick to do so. Charles had Williams as a chauffeur and Albert had Herrington for a long time, and Herrington's wife was a helper at the parties Albert had as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Later Albert had Jack, who has remained faithfully and loyally devoted to Maud to the present day.

Alice and Arthur have had John DeVoyst, a Hollander, as a gardener for a long time. He is still on the job, which accounts, in part of least, for the loveliness of the garden at 143 Pelham road.

Now into this story, but in a quite different category, comes Frances Radcliffe. When George Matthews was living he brought into his home his wife's niece, Frances. She came to lift the load of house management from her Aunt Frances's shoulders. There was an understanding between herself and George that she would stay with Frances Matthews as long as she lived after George was gone. So it has been, and now for some twenty-five years or more, she has managed the beautiful old home at 50 Lorne Crescent, taken old Frances on endless trips to Florida, Atlantic City, Lake of Bays, and so on, cared for Frances's health, supervised and kept the beautiful garden, engaged the domestic help, and done ever so much herself of the work of the home, and been a charming hostess for all who dropped in to call on her Aunt. For Frances Ratcliffe her service has become her life, and it should allays be held in grateful memory by all who have known her..

V. The Uncle Dick Story. (Richard St. Leger McGinn)

Our mother was one of thirteen children. Four died in infancy, but the nine others all grew to maturity, living from fifty to eighty-five years. One sister, Sophia, married S. Leslie Head, and they became pioneers in Manitoba. Alex writes, saying that when we lived at 44 Jackson Street West, Hamilton, "mother's sister, her husband and family stayed with us overnight while en route to pioneering in promoting Rapid City, Manitoba." This was about 1881. Two brothers, Richard and John, went west much earlier- Richard getting to Fort Garry in 1870, and John arrived in Winnipeg in 1875. Clarinda married Dr. Eberle, and after the Spanish American War went with him in medical service for the American government first to Puerto Rico and then to the Philippine Isles, where he contracted a disease of which he later died. One of their daughters became a well-known sculptor in New York. The other, Louise, went with them to Puerto Rico and the Philippines, and wrote a number of stories and articles, arising out of her experiences, for publication.

Our only living aunt now (1859) is May, who married Richard St. Leger McGinn in 1900. This story is about Richard, Uncle Dick, whose life was filled with venture and romance almost from the start.

It is difficult to say how much ancestry has to do with a man's character, but it is interesting to note that at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 Sir Robert St. Leger was a 'companion in arms of the Conqueror', and that his name appears both in the list of Battle Abbey and in the more accurate list set up in Dives Church in 1866 by M. Leopold Delisle at Dives-Sur-Mer, the port from which the Conqueror set out for England. (The name appears as 'Sent Legere' in the Battle Abbey list). This Sir Robert fixed his abode in Ulcombe, Kent. One of his descendents, Sir Anthony, a man of exceptionally fine education, was of great service to Henry VIII, and was constituted Lord Deputy of Ireland, and, it is said, "St. Leger's appointment as lord deputy marks a new epoch in the history of Ireland" for, on behalf of his King, St. Leger exacted obedience from the Kavanaghs, the O'Moores, the O'Tools, the O'Conors, and conciliated the O'Briens, and the Earl of Desmond, and carried an act in the Irish Parliament in Dublin conferring the title of King of Ireland on Henry VIII and his heirs. Eventually Doneraile, near Cork, became the home of the family, and it was here that Elizabeth St. Leger, the only woman Mason, lived. As this Elizabeth was one of Uncle Dick's ancestors maybe the daring blood of Sir Robert and of Sir Anthony stirred in his veins. Not from the St. Legers alone, however, did Uncle Dick become heir to fighting blood and venturous spirit. His grandfather James McGinn was with the soldiers of the king at the battle of Vinegar Hill at Enniscorthy in the County of Wrexford, Ireland, in 1798, and his father, Thomas McGinn, was captain of the Montréal Loyal Volunteers at the time of the Mackenzie-Papineau rebellion which broke out in 1837. Indeed, he raised the first company of volunteers to be organized in Canada, and led them to St. Eustache.

Concerning Uncle Dick, we know that he was born on September 10, 1848, five years after his father became gaoler of the Montréal gaol on St. Mary Street. Dick was the seventh child in the family. Mother and Aunt Steenie were the fifth and sixth children, and they were born at the gaol where Grandfather resided as keeper, or warden, for twenty-one years. We know little of his education, other than that it was obtained in Montréal. Some of the girls, evidently, went away to school, though mother's education was entirely in schools in the city.

In the early days there was a good deal of trouble between the Canadian government and groups of American citizens who wished to annex Canada. The Mackenzie-Papineau rebellion in the east had been one expression of this. In the west somewhat later, the transfer of the territory from the Hudson Bay Company to the Canadian Government caused the settler population of half-breeds, the Métis, great uneasiness, and in 1869 a party led by Louis Riel turned back the newly appointed governor of the territory before he reached Fort Garry. Then the Métis, under his leadership, took the fort and set up a government. In his position as head of this government, Riel, unwisely, caused the execution of Thomas Scott, an Orangeman from Ontario. It was to meet this situation that the first forces were sent from the east to quell the rebellion and to take the fort. Uncle Dick, then twenty-one years of age, joined the expedition under Colonel Garnet Wolseley. In 'The City of the Rivers', published by the Bureau of Travel and publicity, Winnipeg, this is said of the journey west, "Early in May (1870), two battalions of Canadian troops plus a force of British regulars under Colonel Garnet Wolseley, set out over the difficult waterways that led from Lake Superior (no doubt they came this far by lake boats) through a wilderness of forest, rock and muskeg, to Lake Winnipeg. Experienced voyageurs guided the big boats that carried the men, cannon and ball, rifles and ammunition, as well as the provisions for three months. The transportation of the force, a task which required ninety-six grueling days, stands as a unique feat in military annals.

"On the night of August 25, the troops camped beside the Red River, six miles below the settlement (later Winnipeg). It was a night of rain and wind, that flattened the tents and hurled sheets of water against the helpless men. As dawn broke in leaden skies a chill mist covered the countryside.

"Two miles below the fort, the equipment was taken from the boats and placed in carts. Their boots heavy with mud, the troops stumbled up the prairie trail toward the grey stone walls of Fort Garry." And they found the fort evacuated! Riel had gone.

But while the fort was taken without a blow, like any other soldier, Uncle Dick still had to do his sentry duty. So one evening, standing as a sentry at the gate of the fort, he turned and carved his name on one of the gateposts. Nearly thirty-five years later, when Dick was happily married to Aunt May, they were at a Hudson Bay Company picnic at the old fort. Dick found his name still on the gatepost, and ran to get May and take her to see it. With fifty years more slipping by, Aunt May doubts whether it is still visible. In 1911 the last dogsled of supplies for northern posts of the Hudson Bay Company went out from the fort, and later the Company presented the property to the Canadian government as a 'gift to the nation'.

Uncle Dick remained west after the Rebellion, and in 1875 Uncle Jack followed him to Winnipeg. In 1885 there was a second rebellion led by Riel in the Northwest. Major General Frederick Middleton was sent to quell it. The new Canadian Pacific Railroad gave great help in transporting the soldiers this time, and on the night of April 4, 1885, the first companies from the east reached Winnipeg. Within a week, Middleton, with the first of the three striking columns, set out from QuAppelle northward for Riel's stronghold at Batoehe.[9] This time both Uncle Dick and Uncle Jack went along. Riel was captured, tried, and executed, and so the famous rebellions ended and the Northwest began its rapid and prosperous development.

Uncle Dick's adventures in the West did not end with the rebellions. Someone - name unknown - writing in a Winnipeg paper about the year 1910, referred to Uncle Dick, saying, 'This gentleman was connected with nearly all the railway exploring surveys in the west'. Alex says that mother had a letter, either from Dick or Jack, saying that he was helping in the survey of the Lake of the Woods. And Aunt May says that Dick did nearly everything in the pioneering line. He traced two rivers in the Rockies to their sources, with mules carrying his packs, and as he progressed, he kept record of the altitude by the simple method of boiling a tea kettle every so often to get by the temperature of the water at the boiling point the height above sea level. On one of his survey trips for the railroad, Uncle Dick was accompanied by Mr. S. O. Shorey who took his samples with him, and became thus 'the first Montréal commercial traveller either into or out of Winnipeg'. When the first section of the Canadian Pacific Railroad was put into operation on December 5, 1878, with a train made up of an engine (possibly the Countess of Dufferin, the old engine now standing on exhibit in front of the station at Winnipeg), two or three flatcars, and a caboose, Mr. Shorey was on board, and demanding a ticket for his trip he thus became the first passenger on the railroad. The ticket issued to him, 'Ticket No. 1, Trip No. 1' was written out by Uncle Dick and signed by him along with other employees or officers of the railroad on the train. It is amusing to know that Uncle Jack is credited with issuing the first ticket, in the book by John Murray Gibbons, Steel of Empire. Uncle Jack was a great storyteller. I met him once in Montréal and was entertained all one evening by his fascinating tales of his experiences in the North and the West. But in this instance it is assumed that Jack told the story of the first ticket so often that at last he unconsciously identified himself with the action. The newspaper reproduction of the ticket over the page makes clear that Dick issued the ticket.

When Dick was fifty-two years old he married Aunt May. They started their honeymoon in Hamilton, September 1, 1900. On the third they went to Toronto, and then on by boat to Montréal, where Aunt May met Dick's sisters Janie and Steenie, and his brother Jack. Thus they began ten years of exceedingly happy married life. May says, 'He was the most interesting of men. He travelled by dog train and pack mule train and had hundreds of amusing experiences. It was hard to get him to reminisce, and he would boast never! 'He liked good books, and as for Shakespeare, he could almost recite it from memory'. Dick was a member of the Prince Rupert Lodge of Masons. Aunt May has his Masonic Certificate, dated December 26, 1890. And she says, "Yes, Dick told me an ancestor of his was the Elizabeth St. Leger of Masonic fame. He said when he joined the Prince Rupert Lodge, there was her picture on the wall."

Finally, about 1910, this hardy, daring, but gentle/and lovable uncle of ours died. A Toronto gentleman, unknown to Aunt May, wrote to her on March 19, 1911, "'Dick' and I, with Jack and another, were intimate some thirty years ago, living at the same boarding house end sleeping in the same room and the same bed with him for months. - I look back upon that period as one of the most delightful of my life I got the benefit of his well stored mind and his quaint humor was always delicious --- the time spent with him has been ever a delight. The letter was signed by W. B. Unsworth, whom I identified for Aunt May as the father of Alice Unsworth whom we knew so well at Dwight in the summers she spent there.

POSTSCRIPT to the Story of Uncle Dick

Knowing that Uncle Dick was in the command of Colonel Middleton, I followed Donald Creighton's story of the second rebellion and assumed that he went with Middleton to Batoche. Then I sent a copy of the story as I had written it to Aunt May, and in her reply she said,

"Regarding his Life Story - There is one historical mistake. I don't know about Jack, but Dick was not at Batoche. He was at Prince Albert at the Lime, very ill with acute 'indigestion', as we called it in those days. Probably ulcers. The Dr. said he would never get out of his bed alive. When the call came for volunteers to go from P.A. Dick said, 'If I'm going to die I'm going to die decently.' He struggled into some clothes, went down and got into a sleigh, where he promptly fainted. In the confusion he was not noticed by the 'Powers that Be'. He told me, 'When I heard the first shot, I forgot all about my indigestion, and was able to eat with the best of them when at last we had food'. He always said that excitement or shock was the best cure for indigestion! I wish I could remember where they fought, the name of the place quite escapes me, but they were nearly wiped out. (The name of the place where that battle was fought may be 'Fort Pitt'.) Somebody made a mistake, and a small group of them were left behind or something, it didn't get into the history books, I think Dick said. I mean what caused them to be left. Dick was one of the few that escaped unharmed. He always said it was the hottest spot in the whole uprising, and they were all volunteers."

Certainly it "as worthwhile Liking a 'historical mistake' to have this excellent supplement from Aunt May. In the same letter she sent me a snap of herself taken in the back yard of Miss Sibbald's house, where Aunt May lives. Miss Sibbald is a great granddaughter of the Susan Sibbald 'whose memorial church is at Jackson's Point'. here is the snap.

Father and Mother

J.W.A.Stewart

B.A. Toronto University, 1876.

Graduate in Theology, Canadian Literary Institute, Woodstock, 1879.

D.D., University of Pochester

L.L.D., McMaster University, 1907.

Mary Ann McGinn Stewart

McGill Normal School

A member of Pres. Dawson's class in Geology the one year that McGill Normal School students were admitted to it.

Holder of the Prince of Wales Medal from the Normal School, 1861.

Josephine's Family

George R. Welch

B. A. McMaster University (Then in Toronto)

Josephine Mary

Completed the Domestic Science Course at the Rochester Mechanic's Institute. Student at Moulton College, Toronto, for a year, and later at Ogontz School, Ogontz, Pennsylvania, 1900-1901.

 

Beatrice Welch McLeod

University of British Columbia, 1925.

B.Ed. Eastern Washington College of Education.

Studied without degree, University of Washington.

Leighton R. McLeod

 

B.A., University of British Columbia, 1925.

L. R. McLeod, Jr.

 

B.S. in Civil Engineering, Washington State University, 1953

 

Nancy Claire McVat McLeod (Mrs. L. R., Jr.)

Two years, without degree, Washington State University.

 

Constance Mary Welch Vichert

B.A. McMaster University, Spring Convocation, 1962, on the same day and at the same Convocation, her son, Bruce Vichert received his degree.

 

Clarence G. Vichert

B.A. McMaster University 1926

M.A. McMaster University , 1927

B.D. Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, 1929

Graduate Scholar, Yale University, 1929- 30, fellow 37-38.

Alexander's Family

Alexander McGinn

B.A. University of Rochester, 1900

Student at Harvard (without degree) 1900-1901

Graduate, Rochester Theological Seminary, 1904.

Helen Wile Stewart

B.A. Vassar College, 1503.

Helen Wile Stewart Jr.

B.A., University of Rochester 1934.

Mary Stewart Allen

B.A., University of Rochester, 1935

Gordon Whiteman Allen

B.A., University of Rochester, 1934

M. Soc. Science, University of Buffalo, 1948.

Frederick William

B.A. University of Rochester, 1901.

M.A. University of Rochester, 1907.

Graduate Student, Harvard, 1905 - 1906.

Graduate Student, Chicago Divinity School, 1921 - 1924.

B.D. Rochester Theological Seminary, Class of 1914; degree conferred, 1921.

Hilda Denovan Stewart

Matriculated, U. of T., but did not attend.

John Lincoln Stewart

B.A., Dennison University (in English) 1938

M.A., Ohio State University, 1939

Ph.D. (in English) Ohio State University

Howard Fellow (Awarded by Brown University) 1953-1954.

 

Joan Elsdon Guthridge Stewart (Mrs. John)

B.A., Dennison University (Foreign Languages) 1938

 

Elizabeth Mary Stewart Ferguson

B.A., Denison Univeristy, 1941

M.A., Ohio Wesleyan University, 1943

 

Carl Maddox Ferguson

B. A. Stanford University 1938

Student, University of California, 1938 - 1940

 

Bruce A. Stewart

Student, Dennison Universitiy, 1941

B.A., Ohio State University, 1947

J.D., Northwestern University School of Law, 1950.

 

Harriett Stewart (Mrs. Bruce)

B.S.,Dennison, 1947

 

Hilda Stewart Jain (Mrs. Edward)
B. A., Denison, 1952

 

Edward Jain

B.A., Denison, 1953

M.A., Ohio State U., 1955

Harold Stanley

B.A., University of Rochester, 1903 Phi Beta Kappa

B.A., Harvard University, 1904

B.D., Rochester Theological Seminary, 1915

D.D., University of Rochester, 1932.

Annie Isabella Matthews Stewart

Moulton College

Student in Nursing, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montréal, 1906-1907

Paul Alexander Stewart

B.A., University of Rochester, 1932

M.S., University of Rochester, 1934

Graduate, Basic Advanced Yanagement Course, University of Virginia, 1959.

 

Ruth Byler Stewart (Mrs. Paul)

B.Sc. Beloit College, 1932.

Medal in Mathematics

 

        Robert Byler Stewart

        B.A. State University of Iowa, 1959

        D. J. State University of Iowa, 1961

 

Gordon Matthews Stewart

B.A., University o Rochester, 1934

Exchange Scholarship granted, 1934, by Institute of International Education for study in Germany.

Student, University of Hamburg, 1934-35

Student in graduate work, Chicago University, from

which he was drafted, Second World War.

 

Margaret Marshall Stewart (Mrs. Gordon)

B.A. Chicago University, M.A.

American University, Washington, DC. 1938

 

Harold Stanley Stewart, Jr.,

B.S. Chicago University; 1935

Ph.D. Johns Hopkins, 1948.

 

Dorothy Loop Stewart (Mrs. Harold Jr.)

Student in nursing.

Arthur's Family

Arthur Lawrence Stewart

B. A., University of Rochester, 1905. Phi Beta Kappa

M.E., Cornell University-, 1909

Alice M. M. Matthews Stewart (Mrs. Arthur)

Student, McMaster University 1903-1904

Graduate, Lillian Massey School of Household Science (Now, Department of Home Economics, University of Toronto) 1906

David Smithson Stewart

Haverford College, 1942-1943

Swarthmore, 1943-1944

M.D., Albany Medical College, 1948

Elizabeth Hoisington Stewart (Mrs. David)

B.A., Swarthmore, 1944

Won a scholarship based on first and second year's work.

Norman's Family

Norman Hamilton

B.A., University of Rochester, 1908

M.S., University of Michigan. 1910

Ph.D. Cornell University, 1923

Professional Certificate, State of New York (Teaching) 1908.

 

Eric Graham Stewart

B. A, Bucknell University, 1936

National Institute of Public Affairs, 1936 - 37. Graduate Fellowship, sponsored by Rockefeller Foundation.

 

Emily Frances Orr Stewart (Mrs. Eric)

B.A., Bucknell University, 1935

Graduate work at Temple University, Philadelphia, 1935-36.

Student, Union Theological summer school, 1934.

Eric has also taken several courses at the International Business Machines Corporation, Endicott, New York.

Hugh's Family

Hugh Wilson

B.A.University of Rochester, 1911

B.D., Rochester Theological Seminary, 1916

M.Th., Rochester Theological Seminary, 1928

Student at University of Chicago

Student at Cornell Agricultural College

Ethel Keats Stewart (Mrs. Hugh)

Student, London Teachers' College, 1926 - 27.

Queen's University (Summer student) 1859

VII. Military and War Records

Alice M. M. Stewart

Active in British War Relief, and American Red Cross local activities in World Wars I and II. Formal recognition for services

Norman H. Stewart

Y.M.C.A. Certificate from 'The National War Work Council' for service with the 92nd and 7th Divisions of the Second Army, A.E.F., August '18 to July '19 France, First World War. Hut Secretary. Served at the front in Alsace and Argonne Woods.

Hugh Wilson Stewart

1st World War, 1918 - 1920. Enlisted, Louisville Kentucky. Commissioned

Chaplain, 1st Lieutenant, France, 27th Division, 107th Infantry, A.E.F.

Invalided home, 5 hospitals. Cited for courage.

Robert Leighton McLeod

Private, Canadian Army, Apr. 12, 1916 - Jan. 21, 1918.

2d Lieut., Royal Air Force, Jan. 21, 1918 - August 14, 1919.

Overseas, August 1916 - August 1919.

Wounded, France, 1918.

Robert Leighton McLeod, Jr.

2d Lieut. and Lieut., U. S. Air force Japan, 18 mo. to 2 years, 1954 -1955.

Gordon W. Allen

Lieut. U. S. Army, in charge of hospital, Pawling, N.Y.

John L. Stewart

Enlisted in Signal Corps. Served as radar technician, 1942 - 1944.

Attached to Air Force, 1944 - 45, Asiatic Pacific Theatre, 1944 - 45.

Highest rank, Private First Class.

Bruce A. Stewart

Enlisted in Navy, 1942, and went overseas with "Seabees". (Naval Construction Battalion #47) Returned for officer training and ended naval services as Ensign on a Cruiser, the U.S. Duluth. All overseas excursions were in the Pacific Theatre.

Gordon M. Stewart

Private to Staff Sergeant, 1941 - 1942, at Fort Sill Replacement Training Center (included Oct. to Jan. in reserve in Chicago for being 'over age')

 

2d Lieut. to Captain, Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, summer 1942 1943.

Captain to Lieutenant Colonel, Washington, London, saris, Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, 1943-1946, with Office of Strategic Services. Campaign Ribbon for European Campaign.

Harold Stanley Stewart, Jr.

Ten Pacific an Nevada a operations for A.E.F. (Nuclear Weapons Tests) Patriotic Civilian Service Award (Highest Army award fir civilians) Distinguished Civilian Service Award (Highest Navy award for civilians)

Elizabeth Hoisington Stewart

Organized an headed up War Garden work at Swarthmore College.

Robert Casey Stewart.

Enlisted, Windsor, Ontario, Royal Canadian Air Force, August 1941.

 

Called to service at #1 Manning Depot, Toronto, November 10, 1941.

 

For 22 years at various stations in Canada, serving in Security Guard and Service Police Units, and as Disciplinarian of 250 recruits, while waiting for remuster and transfer to Motor Transport Division. In 1944 posted to Lachine, Québec for overseas posting. In England trained for posting to India and Burma. Squadron known as '435 Squadron R.C.A.F. Transport Command' commonly called 'The Chindits' or 'Elephant Squadron'. It was based at Gujarat, N.W. India, and later sent to Imphal, Assam. It was to supply and evacuate casualties for the 14th Army (British).

 

Discharged at Toronto, Ontario, February 15, 1946, with rank of L.A.C. and following awards: 1939 - 45 Star, Burma Star, C. V. S. Medal, and Clasp and War Medal.

Kenneth Gordon Stewart

Enlisted, U.S. Navy, Des Moines Iowa, June 9, 1958. Service at San Diego California; Memphis, Tennessee; Key West, Florida. Electronics. Petty Officer rating.

It should also be remembered that my great-grandfather, James McGinn served at the Battle of Vinegar Hill, 1798, Ireland: that Grandfather Thomas McGinn raised the first company of volunteers and led them to St. Eustache in the Mackenzie-Papineau Rebellion,in Québec, and that he received a commission as Captain from Sir Charles Colborne. (1838): that my uncles Richard and John McGinn served in the Riel Rebellion, 1870.

Eric Graham Stewart

Served as Lieutenant (J.G.) in the Navy, 1944 - 46, stationed in Washington, Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, Management Engineering Section, as a management engineering officer. He attained the rank of full Lieutenant in the spring of 1946.

J. W. A. .Stewart

A chapter in the volume in honor of William N. Clarke

Various sermons and papers.

Alexander A Stewart

René Menard, 2 editions First, 1934. Copy in Library of Congress

Map of the Seneca Villages, 3 editions First, 1931

French Pioneers in North America (in process - 2 sections published)

Numerous articles in magazines

Frederick W. Stewart

A Study of Adolescent Development, American Baptist Publication Society, 1929

Various articles for papers and magazines.

Arthur L. Stewart

Various technical papers and patents having to do with bevel gears and machinery for producing them

Norman H. Stewart

Development, Growth and Food Habits of the White Sucker, Catostomus commersoniti. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Fisheries, Document No. 1007, 1926.

 

"Observations on Deer of Pennsylvania". The Biologist, vol. 20, No. 2. December 1938.

 

Various other scientific papers.

Hugh W. Stewart

One Booklet of Poetry

John L. Stewart

Exposition for Science and Technical Students, Dryden Press 1950

The Essay, Prentice Hall 1952.

Gordon M. Stewart

Chapter, Frich Marcks, in Some Historians of Modern Furope, edited by Bernadotte F. Schmidt, University of Chicago Press

Numerous poems and articles of Mary McGinn Stewart's were printed in papers, and a booklet of her poems was printed for the family as an undertaking of Hugh's.

IX Positions, Honors, etc. (not including regular occupations)

Alexander M. Stewart

A letter from the head of the Jesuit Order in Rome in recognition of his writings on Catholic subjects.

A letter from Fr. Melançon 1939, head of the College of Sainte Marie in Montréal, and from various other Roman Catholic priests.

His book, René Menard received great acclaim by Catholics all over.

He was presented with a book of historical drawings by pupils of the fifth Grade, Victor School. "Presented with Ceremony".

Frederick W. Stewart

Member of the Religious Education Committee of the State (Ohio) Council of Churches.

Organized the County Council of Religious Education.

Dean of the Leadership Training School, Newark, Ohio, 34 - 41.

Arthur L. Stewart

Chairman of the Board of Colgate-Rochester Divinity School 1954-1961

Member of the Board 1920 - 1961

Norman F. Stewart

Consultant to the Pennsylvania Game Commission

President, Pennsylvania Academy of Science

 

Societies:

Phi Beta Kappa, Charter member, Mu Chapter, Bucknell University

Sigma Xi (Honorary Scientific Society) U. of Mich. 1910

Phi Sigma (Honorary Biological Society) Charter member, 1932, Bucknell University Chapter.

And nine others.

Hugh W. Stewart

Chairman of The World Refugee Committee for St. Thomas, Ontario.

Introduced Vacation Bible Schools in Stratford, Ontario.

Alice M. M. Stewart

President of the Roard of the Rochester Friendly Hone, 1940 - 1945.

David S. Stewart

Physician, Rochester Friendly Home 1955-1959

Instructor in Medicine, University of Rochester Medical School.

Paul A. Stewart

American Legion School Award, Kenderton School, Philadelphia, 1924.

Seminar Leader, American Management Association, 1955, 1957.

Seminar Leader, University of Michigan Business School, 1959, 1961.

President, Indiana State Convention of Congregational-Christian Churches, 1952

President, Newton (Iowa) Y.M.C.A. 1954

President, Newton, Y.M., Y.W. 1955,56, 57.

President, Board of Directors, Newton Country Club, 1960.

Harold S. Stewart, Jr.

Sigma Pi Sigma (Honorary Physics Fraternity)

Sigma Psi

Operation Crossroads 1946

Head, Radiometry Branch, Naval Research Laboratory, 1948 - 1958.

Harriett Stewart

Secretary, American Hospital Association

Joan Guthridge Stewart

Soloist for the Congregational Church, Hanover, N.H.

Leslie Cythera Stewart

Youngest member of the Dartmouth Community Symphany Orchestra

Ann Guthridge Stewart

Has raised white mice for college laboratories

John L. Stewart

M.A. (honorary) Dartmouth 1957

Gordon A Stewart

Was given special recognition in C.I.A. for his work in the Agency

Norman H. Stewart

Saved five persons from drowning.

 

Walked;

Dwight to Toronto

Toronto to Rochester Lewisburg to Fochester

Lewisburg to Boston

Altogether over a thousand miles

Eric Graham Stewart

Served as Chairman of a Task Force Committee on Business Machines and Methods for the 2d "Hoover Commission". Served two terms on the Federal Records Council

X: Odds and Ends

Alexander has his father's gold medal in Philosophy from Toronto University, 1876. Also, he has his mother's Albert Edward, Prince of Wales medal awarded by the McGill Normal School, Montréal, 1861. also, two French dictionaries which belonged to Grandfather, Thomas McGinn.

Fred has his mother's poem, "Duty and Love" in her own handwriting. Also, eight postcards sent from the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 - 21 official souvenirs!.-by father to various members of the family.

Beatrice McLeod has grandfather Thomas McGinn's desk, which had passed first to Mother, and then to Harold, and then to Josephine, and then to Bea.

Harold has two army medals belonging to Richard St. Leger McGinn for his services in western rebellions (Riel). His father's bronze desk set which was presented to him at the close I think - of his Hamilton pastorate. His father's sheepskin from Toronto Baptist College - 1833, and his L.L.D. sheepskin from McMaster University, 1907. The deed of property sold by Edmund J. Gouldie to Charles Schafer, Adam Schafer, and Arthur Emberson, August 7, 1886, for the Baptist Church at Dwight. Also several papers having to do with the transfer of the property from the Baptist Church to the United Church, 1937. A copy of the Menu and Toasts for the annual banquet of Doneraile Lodge, No. 2558, 13th November 1928, having on the cover page a picture of Elizabeth Str. Leger - only woman Mason - who was a member of this chapter; she being an ancestor of ours. Also several pictures of Doneraile, and a description of how Elizabeth happened to: become a Mason. Also, Mother's copy of Percey's Reliques, with her signature inside and Woodstock, where she was teaching.

John has a Geneva Bile (Breeches Bible) printed in London by Christopher Barker, Printer to Her Majesty, the Queen, in 1581. About twenty-five editions were made of it, this Bible belonging to one of the first of these. The translation was made in 1560, and it was the first to be divided into verses.

Additional odds and ends suggested by Arthur L. Stewart

Letter from Fred, p. 1
Letter from Fred, p. 2

[1] The b, after James Stuart's name, in this instance means baptized.

[2] Marjory Henry (Mrs. George) was born a Grant, and sent the pictures and information from Grantown, just a few miles from Dufftown.

[3] G.D.Atkinson reported to me that Vicars Turnbull died in the summer of 1959 at St. Petersburg, Florida. He and G. D. had become good friends after the Atkinsons began their annual trips to Florida.

[4] The evidence for the descent at this point follows. I cannot secure any certain record of the line from the genealogical authorities in Ireland.

[5] Note: Gordon Matthews who supplied the material to this point, says "We are not absolutely certain that John Mathew, who married the heiress of Thomas del Boytre, was in fact the son of George Mathew and Mary Roberts, but he did have the same Coat of Arms, and it is reported that he 'Came out of Wales"'. From this point on the material was gathered by William E. Matthews.

[6] Examiner four successive years in Philosophy and Ethics.

[7] In the 1840's, the decade in which Mother was born, Montréal was a city of 57,500. It had many clubs and much social life. There were fifteen newspapers, 94 schools, colleges and academies.

[8] The marriage was somewhere near the year 1000 A. D.

[9] The quotation is from Donald Creighton, John A. Macdonald. I have Uncle Dick's two war medals, the first marked 'Red River 1870', and the second, 'North West 1885'.